For experienced B2B SaaS SDRs ready to move into closing roles

Stop waiting for the title. Learn to run the deal.

You already know how to create pipeline. But AE interviews ask about everything that happens after the meeting is booked: discovery, qualification, demos, stakeholders, pricing, negotiation, forecasting, and close.

This eight-week live cohort gives you one customer account and one complete opportunity to run. Every week the deal changes: you decide what to do next, practise it live, and get direct feedback from someone currently selling enterprise deals.

Cohort 01Starts 13 August 2026Live online₹89,000Application only
Apply for the founding cohort → See how the simulation works

Two live sessions every week · Live roleplays · Direct faculty feedback · Final readiness assessment

Every application reviewed individually.  ·  Read the program guide →

Built by School of Sales

—
Live sales cohorts delivered
—
Sales professionals trained
—
Hiring companies in the network
Cohort 01 — the first dedicated SDR-to-AE cohort.

This is the first time we are running this exact SDR-to-AE program. It is not the first time we have taught sellers live, reviewed their work, coached their conversations, or helped them prepare for larger roles.

The experience trap

You can book the meeting. But can you run what happens next?

You may already be one of the strongest SDRs on your team. You know how to research accounts, write outbound messages, handle initial resistance, and create qualified conversations.

But when you apply for an AE role, the questions change.

01“Tell me about a discovery call you led.”
02“How do you qualify an opportunity?”
03“How do you build a business case?”
04“How have you handled pricing or procurement?”
05“What deals have you owned?”
06“What have you closed?”
The catch

You can’t get the AE role because you have never owned a full deal.

And

You can’t gain full-cycle experience because nobody will give you the AE role.

You do not need another course explaining what discovery, MEDDICC, or negotiation means. You need somewhere to practise running the deal before a company trusts you with one.

That is what this cohort is designed to give you.

The role shift

You already know how to create the opportunity. Now learn to own it.

What you may do today
What you will learn to run
Research and open accounts
→
Build a complete account and meeting strategy
Create qualified conversations
→
Diagnose the business problem and its impact
Handle initial resistance
→
Navigate objections, pricing and procurement
Build a relationship with one contact
→
Create a champion and multi-thread the buying committee
Support an Account Executive
→
Control the opportunity through commercial close

The move from SDR to AE is not simply a change of title. It is a change in judgement. You have to learn what to ask, what to challenge, when to advance a deal, when to slow it down, who needs to be involved, and what evidence supports your forecast.

Those decisions cannot be learned by watching videos alone. They have to be practised.

The deal simulation

One account. One opportunity. Eight weeks.

Most programs teach discovery, qualification, demos and negotiation as separate topics. Here they are one deal. Step through the eight weeks and watch the same opportunity change — a stakeholder appears, the forecast moves, the close date slips — the way a real one does.

The account
Northwind Retail
$84K ARR
Illustrative scenario
StagePreparation
ChampionNone yet
Close dateTarget: Q3
Forecast confidence15%
In the room
Ops Manager
Your move
Week 01

A new account lands. One booked meeting with the Ops Manager, and limited information.

The decision
What is your account thesis, and how do you open to earn the right to lead the meeting?
You practise
Running the opening of the first customer meeting, live.
Account & meeting plan

Week after week, you practise doing the job itself.

Explore the eight-week journey →

The Rhythm

Two live sessions. One decision at a time.

Tuesday · 1 PM ISTLearn & Build
  • 20 min Framework & concepts
  • 20 min Examples & call breakdown
  • 35 min Workshop & preparation
  • 15 min Feedback & assignment
Friday · 1 PM ISTPractise & Coach
  • 15 min Review & warm-up
  • 55 min Role-play
  • 15 min Feedback & replay
  • 5 min Weekly commitment

One continuing customer scenario runs across all eight weeks — roughly 30% teaching, 70% live practice and coaching.

Chapter III · The Curriculum

Eight weeks. One complete opportunity.

Week 01
Operating as a Deal Owner

The shift from creating opportunities to owning them. Account planning, meeting preparation, first-meeting openings, agenda setting and upfront contracts.

Practise Run the opening of the first customer meeting
Week 02
Discovery

Current state, pain, and business impact. Desired outcome, urgency, and the cost of doing nothing — discovery that changes the conversation.

Practise Run a complete discovery call and receive live coaching
Week 03
Qualification

MEDDICC in practice — decision process, budget, champion, competition, and the compelling event that makes a buyer act now.

Practise Deal review — advance, nurture, or disqualify the opportunity
Week 04
Tailored Demo

Build the demo around what discovery uncovered instead of showing every product feature. Show less; make it matter more.

Practise Deliver a 15-minute, customer-specific demo
Week 05
Stakeholders

Champion building, the economic buyer, multi-threading, and stakeholder mapping — reading and moving power inside an account.

Practise Ask for executive access and handle stakeholder resistance
Week 06
Objections & Negotiation

Objection handling and value positioning. Pricing, discounting, and give-get negotiation — without giving the deal away.

Practise Price, competitor, and procurement negotiation role-plays
Week 07
Deal Management

Mutual Action Plans, next steps, and pipeline hygiene. Read deal risk early and forecast on evidence, not hope.

Practise Forecast review and stalled-deal inspection
Week 08
Closing Simulation

Bring it together — the final account plan, business case, and close strategy.

Final assessment End-to-end AE simulation, from discovery to commercial close

Built for people selling to global buyers.

Executive communication, commercial language, and selling across cultures are built into every week — not bolted on at the end.

Apply for Cohort 01 →

The Progress

You'll feel the difference before week eight.

By Week 2
Run a structured discovery and connect pain to business impact.
By Week 4
Build and deliver a demo around what the buyer actually cares about.
By Week 6
Handle commercial resistance without immediately reaching for a discount.
By Week 8
Present and defend a complete deal strategy, from discovery to close.

Progress depends on preparation, participation and practice outside the live sessions.

The Evidence

You won't just study the job. You'll leave with the work.

Before the meeting
  • Account and meeting plan
Diagnose the opportunity
  • Discovery notes
  • Qualification worksheet
  • Stakeholder map
Build the case
  • Tailored demo plan
  • Business case
  • Negotiation plan
Control the deal
  • Mutual Action Plan
  • Forecast assessment
  • Final deal presentation

Every deliverable is produced during the continuing deal simulation — the same work a working AE ships, reviewed line by line.

Chapter IV · The Faculty

Taught by someone still carrying the number today.

Abhishek Shukla
Abhishek Shukla
Lead Faculty · Enterprise GTM, APAC
New York · Emergent · Enterprise GTM, APAC

Not a trainer who left the field years ago. A working enterprise sales operator who has sold in the United States out of New York, built and led sales teams at Emergent, and now works across enterprise GTM in APAC.

He has coached professionals who later joined or progressed at ElevenLabs, Hunar.ai, Newgen and other organisations. For Cohort 01 he owns the room end to end — teaching, live practice, feedback and the final readiness call.

Currently
Working enterprise sales operator, APAC
Sold from
New York, United States
Built & led teams at
Emergent
Coached people into
ElevenLabs · Hunar.ai · Newgen
We do not teach frameworks alone. We coach judgement.
Apply for Cohort 01 →

People coached by the faculty

Cohort 01 has no graduates yet.

We won't pretend otherwise. These are professionals Abhishek coached before this program — people who started roughly where you are now. They show the kind of capability this cohort is built to develop.

Sahil Madaan
Sahil Madaan
SDR → Sales · Newgen
LinkedIn ↗
Starting point
An SDR who needed real experience beyond prospecting — leading discovery, qualifying opportunities and running customer conversations — to be seen as more than someone who books meetings.
What Abhishek coached
Discovery, opportunity qualification, customer conversations and full-cycle commercial thinking.
What changed
Built the confidence to move from the SDR role into a sales role at Newgen.
In his words
“Working with Abhishek was a turning point in my career. He coached me beyond the traditional SDR role — involving me in discovery calls, teaching me how to qualify opportunities, lead customer conversations, and think like a full-cycle Account Executive. His mentorship gave me the confidence to transition from SDR to AE/AM, and helped me secure my role at Newgen.”
Sandeep Jaiswal
Sandeep Jaiswal
Enterprise SaaS sales
LinkedIn ↗
Starting point
Already selling in enterprise SaaS, but wanting to approach larger, more complex opportunities with more confidence than prospecting skills alone could give.
What Abhishek coached
Customer discovery, executive conversations and a consultative, enterprise selling mindset.
What changed
Took on larger enterprise opportunities and delivered against them consistently.
In his words
“Abhishek played a pivotal role in shaping how I approached enterprise sales. Beyond helping me improve prospecting, he coached me on customer discovery, executive conversations, and building a consultative sales mindset. His guidance gave me the confidence to take on larger opportunities and consistently deliver results in enterprise SaaS.”
Kunal Rathore
Kunal Rathore
SMB CS → Customer Success Lead · HunarAI
LinkedIn ↗
Starting point
Working in SMB Customer Success and wanting to handle more strategic, larger enterprise relationships.
What Abhishek coached
Strategic customer conversations, account-management thinking and larger enterprise relationships.
What changed
Moved into account management at Dunzo, then into AI at HunarAI, where he now leads Customer Success.
In his words
“Abhishek has been instrumental in my career growth. I started in SMB Customer Success, and through his coaching I learned how to manage strategic customer conversations, think like an Account Manager, and handle larger enterprise relationships. His mentorship helped me move into account management at Dunzo, and later into the AI space at HunarAI, where I now lead Customer Success.”

These are examples of previous coaching. They are not presented as results from Cohort 01.

Chapter V · The Record

Our first SDR-to-AE cohort. Not our first time building sellers.

School of Sales is built on the operating experience of School of SDR, which has run dozens of live cohorts and trained working sales professionals. This founding cohort applies that experience to the hardest transition in an SDR's career: moving from creating an opportunity to owning it.

0+
Sales professionals trained
across School of SDR, since 2024.
0
Live cohorts run
refining how sellers are actually taught.
0+
Hiring companies
that have worked with our people.
Companies where our alumni sell, or that have hired through our network — across enterprise SaaS, AI, security, fintech, HR, and developer tools.

The Founding Cohort

Founding cohort. Built on proven foundations.

Everything learned across thirty-eight SDR cohorts is distilled into one programme built for the hardest step in a sales career. Founding members shape what it becomes — a smaller room, direct access to faculty, and a seat every future class is measured against.

Limited seatsDirect faculty accessApplication onlyCohort 01 · 13 Aug 2026

The Room

You're not buying videos.You're joining a room.

Channel
Private Discord
The cohort, always on — questions, wins and deal problems between sessions.
Live
Weekly office hours
Bring a difficult conversation, a practice deal, or a decision you're stuck on.
Practice
Mock calls
Practise realistic openings, discovery, objections and negotiation.
Practice
Roleplays
Run the deal from discovery to close, live in the room.
Review
Deal reviews
Inspect assumptions, missing stakeholders, risk and next steps.
Review
Peer feedback
Sharpened by people sitting in the same seat as you.
Access
Mentor feedback
Direct notes on what to repeat, stop and improve.
Network
Alumni
SDRs and AEs across the School of Sales network.

Chapter VI · Admissions

This program is deliberately not for everyone.

The experience bar

At least two years of B2B SaaS SDR or BDR experience, with two to four years the ideal range.

Applicants with more than five years of experience are reviewed individually, based on career path, current responsibilities and reason for applying. Frequent short tenures without a clear explanation may affect admission.

You should apply if
  • You have at least two years of B2B SaaS SDR or BDR experience.
  • You are consistently among the stronger performers on your team.
  • You already run discovery, qualification, or parts of customer conversations.
  • You have supported AEs beyond simply booking the meeting.
  • You can explain a customer's business problem clearly.
  • You have experience building pipeline independently.
  • You want to sell to mid-market, enterprise, or international buyers.
  • You can attend live sessions and practise outside class, and welcome direct feedback.
This is probably not for you if
  • You are still learning basic prospecting.
  • You have less than two years of relevant sales experience.
  • Your experience is primarily B2C.
  • You want a short recorded course.
  • You want a certificate without intensive practice.
  • You want a guaranteed promotion or job.
  • You cannot attend live sessions consistently.
  • You are unwilling to prepare and practise outside class.
Signals that stand out
B2B SaaS experience Mid-market or enterprise selling MEDDICC, SPICED, Challenger or BANT exposure Multi-threading into enterprise accounts Builds pipeline independently Strong storytelling and communication
Check your fit →

The Investment

₹89,000

One fee for the complete eight-week program. No additional taxes.

What your fee covers

  • Two live sessions every week, for eight weeks
  • One complete deal simulation, owned end to end
  • Live roleplays and direct faculty coaching
  • Every deal deliverable, reviewed with feedback
  • Lifetime access to every session recording
  • Private Discord community throughout
  • One-to-one coaching for selected participants
  • Weekly office hours and peer practice
  • Final readiness assessment
  • Certificate of completion & School of Sales network access
TaxesNo additional taxes · GST invoice not available
PaymentBank transfer, UPI or card
EmployerInvoice provided for L&D reimbursement
ScholarshipNeed-based consideration on request
RecordingsLifetime access
SupportGroup coaching + 1:1 for selected participants
Cohort10–12 participants · small, selected group
WithdrawalDiscussed during the admission conversation
Apply for Cohort 01 → Read the full program guide

Applications are reviewed individually. The price is not hidden — there is nothing more to reveal on a call.

Admission is earned, not purchased.

01
Apply

Tell us about your experience, performance, current responsibilities, and why you are ready to own more of the sales cycle.

02
Profile review

We assess your experience, evidence of performance, and exposure to AE responsibilities.

03
Admission conversation

Selected applicants speak with the School of Sales team to assess fit, goals, and commitment.

04
Cohort invitation

Successful applicants receive an invitation to join Cohort 01.

Submitting an application does not guarantee admission.

Start your application →

Frequently asked

The honest answers.

Does this program guarantee an Account Executive job?+

No. This is a capability-building program, not a placement guarantee. The objective is to help qualified SDRs develop and demonstrate the skills needed to own a full sales cycle.

Do I need to currently be an SDR?+

The program is designed primarily for experienced SDRs and BDRs. Applicants already doing parts of the AE role are especially relevant.

Is this for existing Account Executives?+

This founding cohort is built specifically for experienced SDRs preparing to own full opportunities. Existing AEs may be considered only when their goals and experience closely match the program.

How much experience do I need?+

A minimum of two years of relevant B2B SaaS sales experience is expected. The ideal participant has two to four years of SDR or BDR experience.

Is it suitable for freshers?+

No.

Is the program live?+

Yes. The program includes two live sessions each week — Tuesday and Friday at 1 PM IST — built around instruction, practice, roleplay and feedback.

How long is the program?+

Eight weeks.

How much time should I commit?+

Participants attend both live sessions each week and complete preparation and practice outside class. The exact weekly workload is confirmed with selected applicants before the cohort begins.

Will I receive one-to-one coaching?+

Most feedback happens live, inside the group sessions — through practice, roleplay and deal reviews. One-to-one coaching is also available for selected participants.

What happens if I miss a session?+

The program is built around live participation, so consistent attendance matters. If you expect to miss a session, tell the team in advance. Every session is recorded and you keep lifetime access to the recordings, so you can catch up before the next stage of the deal.

What is the fee?+

The founding cohort fee is Rs 89,000, with no additional taxes. A GST invoice is not available. Payment can be made by bank transfer, UPI or card, and many participants expense the program through their employer's learning budget.

When does Cohort 01 begin?+

The cohort begins on 13 August 2026. Session timings are confirmed with selected applicants before it starts.

The Founding Cohort · Cohort 01

The promotion will not change your career. The capability will.

Cohort 01 is for SDRs who are already proving they can create opportunities and are now ready to learn how to own them.

Cohort 0113 August 2026Live onlineApplication only
Apply for the Founding Cohort →

Applications reviewed individually.

Check your fit →